IS THERE ANOTHER WAY TO COVER ASSET MONETIZATION?

By Richard A. Lee

In many ways, New Jersey’s capital city has been a ghost town this fall. With all 120 seats in the Legislature up for election, state lawmakers are back in their districts working the campaign trails.

But although just about four months have passed since the Senate and Assembly last held voting sessions, there is no shortage of pressing issues confronting the state, and one of the most intriguing items bears the corporate-sounding title of “asset monetization”.

In layman’s terms, asset monetization is the process of converting or establishing assets into money. In New Jersey, depending upon which political party is doing the talking, asset monetization may or may not translate into toll increases resulting from the possible sale or lease of the New Jersey Turnpike. At this point in time, it is hard to say who is correct because Governor Jon S. Corzine has yet to announce the administration’s asset monetization proposal. What is for certain is that the plan will have a major impact on fiscal and transportation policy in New Jersey.

Since the Governor first floated the idea of selling state assets in an address to the Legislature in July 2006 (Marsico and Feeney), there has been no shortage of news stories on the topic. From the start of this year through the date of this writing (October 18), the term “asset monetization” has appeared 173 times in three of state’s largest newspapers -- The Asbury Park Press, The Record and The Star Ledger -- according to records retrieved from Access World News, a database that contains the electronic editions of record for local, regional and national newspapers.

However, a content analysis of recent coverage shows little if any reporting on the substance of asset monetization. Instead the stories focus on politics and strategy issues, including:

- How Republicans will use the issue in this fall’s elections;

- A lawsuit and other efforts designed to force the Administration to release more details, and

- How a change in the Governor’s Chief of Staff will impact plans to move forward on the issue.

The Access World News database shows that, during the months of July, August and September, the term “asset monetization” appeared 58 times in The Asbury Park Press, The Record and The Star Ledger. Of this total, 28 were staff-written news stories, six were Letters to the Editor, seven were op-ed articles, ten were columns written by staff members, and seven were editorials.

An examination of the 28 staff-written news stories shows that almost all of the coverage centered on the politics of gaining approval or expressing opposition to the concept of asset monetization. Five of the stories dealt with Tom Shea’s departure as Corzine’s Chief of Staff and mentioned that Shea would continue to work with the Governor on asset monetization after he left the administration. Four articles were about Republican efforts to obtain more details on the plan; another four were about the GOP’s plans to make asset monetization (and the likelihood of toll increases) a top campaign issue this fall. Two articles reported the results of polls on asset monetization.

The term appeared most frequently in stories about a variety of state programs, where it was identified (usually toward the end of the article) as a possible funding source for items that included transportation infrastructure projects, open space preservation and healthcare costs.

In defense of the news media, it can be difficult to write a story of substance on asset monetization when the Governor has yet to provide the details of his plan.

As The Record’s John Cichowski wrote in a July 27 column (2007): “Sorry for the vagueness, but that’s what happens when a governor says he has a secret plan for bailing his state out of a fiscal mess, then releases just enough secrets to raise dozens of other unanswered questions.”

Cichowski’s point is well taken, but when did the press begin takings its cues from government?

Yes, the administration may be keeping the details either under wraps until after Election Day or perhaps is still developing the plan, but there is plenty of good and valuable reporting that could be taking place on this issue. For example:

How has asset monetization fared in places such as Indiana and Illinois where toll roads have been turned over to private entities? What has been the effect on tolls? On road maintenance? On costs for government?

What does Wall Street think? How would selling or leasing the New Jersey Turnpike affect bond ratings? Sure, it’s only speculative, but why not learn what the financial experts have to say? It would be at least as valuable as learning that the Corzine Administration emailed the Governor’s eight core principles of asset monetization to 26,000 people (Star Ledger, July 15, 2007) or that a Bon Jovi song that Ray Lesniak is pushing as a state anthem fails to include the words asset monetization (Doblin).

Aren’t there any reporters who have the sources and contacts needed to unearth details of the plan – or confirm that the details are still a work in progress? The Ledger won a Pulitzer Prize a few years ago (http://www.nj.com/news/mcgreevey/), The Asbury Park Press never misses an opportunity to remind readers of the impact of its "Profiting from Public Service" series (http://app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/NEWS/70930001/0/SPECIAL10), and The Record proudly proclaims that it is the state's most honored daily newspaper (http://www.njmg.com/history.php). Among them, there must be a reporter who can learn what’s inside Brad Abelow’s head, or perhaps his trash basket.

For better or for worse, this is journalism in the 21st Century. Consolidation, staff cutbacks and the drive for profit have substantially decreased the media’s ability to do enterprise journalism – not only in New Jersey, but throughout the nation. More and more often, it is government officials and other newsmakers – not journalists – who are playing a greater role in setting the agenda.

But things were not always this way. In New Jersey, newspapers have a long history of shaping the state’s character and policies. In fact, the state’s first two newspapers helped to build and maintain support for the Colonists’ struggle for independence during the 1700s. Long before the term “asset monetization” was coined, New Jersey newspapers were playing instrumental roles in the development of the state’s transportation infrastructure.

When British colonists arrived in what was to become New Jersey in the 1600s, they found a network of paths that the Lenni-Lenape and Delaware had created to connect villages and camp sites with coastal areas. Travel, however, remained difficult, and some of the earliest calls for improved roadways came from the precursors of newspapers – travel journals, letters, petitions and pamphlets (Popper).

During the first half of the 19th Century, construction of the Morris Canal and the Delaware & Raritan Canal helped strengthen the economies in New Jersey’s seven largest municipalities, which had become leaders in commerce due to their proximity to water (Harf and Zupan). These seven communities also were at the heart of the state’s 19th Century journalism industry. Alden’s New Jersey Register and United States Calendar for 1811 lists eight New Jersey newspapers, each of them located in – or serving – one of these large communities located near a waterway.

Stacy Gardiner Potts, a journalist who established The Trenton Emporium in 1821, continued to serve in that capacity even as he entered and completed law school and eventually gained election to the New Jersey General Assembly. In the Legislature, he managed to convince his fellow legislators to approve two measures that changed the face of New Jersey’s future – construction of the Delaware & Raritan Canal and establishment of rail service between Camden and Perth Amboy (Birkner).

Construction of the George Washington Bridge in the 1920s laid the groundwork for years of economic and population growth in Bergen County. But the bridge may not have been built had it not been for the efforts of The Record and its then publisher, John Borg. In fact, serious consideration was given to naming the structure “The John Borg Bridge” because his leadership was essential to the project (Sherlock).

More recently in post World War II New Jersey, while the state’s population was growing, the housing market was booming, and new job opportunities were opening the door to a better life, it was a newspaper that issued a warning call that severe congestion problems would ensue if the state did not place a greater emphasis on mass transit. The Newark Evening News took an extremely pro-active in encouraging mass transit and other projects, such as a link to Newark Airport.

“Failure by the people’s representatives and the transportation interests to capitalize on this opportunity toward solving a problem so vital to the whole area would be deplorable,” the newspaper editorialized in 1954 (October 10).

“In Los Angeles, we see what could happen to our own New York-New Jersey metropolitan area if we fail to heed the experts and work out a balanced transportation system that would assign the long haul to rails and the short haul to rubber,” The News warned in an editorial five years later (May 17, 1959).

In addition to regular editorials, The News published special series on the need for better mass transit and alarming increases in highway traffic fatalities. The paper sent its reporters to transportation conferences all over the country to report on what experts were saying. Staff members also visited successful transportation projects in other states and wrote stories about their feasibility for New Jersey.

Today we have an information superhighway and other resources that Newark Evening News reporters could only have dreamt about, but it appears no one as taken the type of initiative that The News did some 50 or so years ago. Instead, of the many stories on asset monetization published this summer by three of state’s largest newspapers, the most detailed explanation of the concept appeared as an addendum to an Asbury Park Press article on a poll:

"Monetization can be compared to a financially strapped homeowner getting a second mortgage. The idea is that the state would borrow against, or lease, public property to private companies in exchange for a lump sum payments — perhaps tens of billions of dollars — to fix current fiscal problems.

"The state might, for example, establish a separate agency to operate the Turnpike or other toll roads; this agency could raise funds for the state's use. Other state assets could include the lottery, train station development rights or the names of state parks" (Method).

On the other hand, many New Jerseyans may prefer the explanation given to The Star Ledger’s Paul Mulshine by Dave Stall, a leader of a citizens’ group opposing a toll increase in Texas:

"It's Tony Soprano," Stall told Mulshine. "He gives you an envelope on top of the table, and then he hands you another envelope under the table" (Star Ledger, August 16, 2007).

# # #

Related Papers:

- The Long and Winding Road That Forms the History of New Jersey Journalism
- The Impact of Media Consolidation on Local News Coverage in NJ
- Local News Coverage Revisited
- NJ Budget Coverage: The Story on the Story
- The Propaganda Model Is Alive and Well in New Jersey

REFERENCES:

A Major Opportunity. (1954. October 10). Newark Evening News.

Birkner, M. (1979) Journalism and Politics in Jacksonian New Jersey: The Career of Stacy G. Potts. In New Jersey History, pp. 159-177.

Cichowski, J. (2007, July 22). Corzine's toll road brainchild a hard sell, The Record, p. L01.

Doblin, A. (2007, August 24) Mascara doesn't bring tears to Lesniak's eyes. The Record, p L13.

Harf, A., and Zupan, J. (1990) Transportation Issues. In New Jersey: Profiles in Public Policy, pp. 279-312.

Marsico, R., and Feeney, T. (2006, October 8). New Jersey looks to collect billions on the Turnpike, Firm is hired to study privatization of the state's most valuable assets. Star-Ledger, p. 1.

Method, J. (2007, July 25). Most oppose leasing N.J. toll highways. Asbury Park Press.

Mulshine, P. (2007, August 16). Push for a new levy in Pennsy looks suspiciously like part of a wider plan. Star-Ledger, p. 19.

North Jersey Media Group Corporate History. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from http://www.njmg.com/history.php.

Popper, D. (1997) Connecting Colonial New Jersey. Geography Research Forum. No. 17, pp. 1-17

Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage from The Star-Ledger, August 13, 2004. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from http://www.nj.com/news/mcgreevey/,

Sherlock, P. (1995) On and Off the Record. Hackensack: Greentree Graphics.

Special Report: Prosecutions, ethics laws spell progress, but loopholes remain. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from http://app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/NEWS/70930001/0/SPECIAL10.

The Auditor: An inside look at the week in New Jersey. (2007, July 15). Star-Ledger, Perspective, p. 3.

This Could Be Us (1959, May 17). Newark Evening News.